Superconducting transitions were measured in field-cooled cooling and field-cooled warming modes in external magnetic fields ranging between 1 mT and 7 T on various Nd-based 123 superconductors (NdBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−δ single crystals and melt-processed samples, and melt-textured ternary compounds). Most of the Nd-based superconductors investigated exhibit a two-step transition when being cooled or warmed in fields larger than 4 T. We ascribe this effect to the presence of an Nd-rich phase providing a spatial scatter of the transition temperature, T c , throughout the sample.

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